Butting out this year? Northern Health says there are plenty of options to quit smoking

It’s a new year and a lot of Northern BC residents are looking to kick some old habits and start fresh.

One of the most common resolutions people make is to stop smoking.

This topic can lead to mixed results for many with some butting out completely while others often struggle with breaking the costly habit.

There are many questions residents need to ask themselves when they think about quitting.

“You might want to look at it where am I going to use nicotine replacement therapy or am I going to tell my friends that I’m quitting or keep it to myself and what support will you access whether it be quit now services, or by attempting to do it on your own,” said Nancy Viney, Tobacco Reduction lead at Northern Health.

For a lot of people who have tried and failed at quitting in the past,  the task is even more daunting when you’re surrounded by people who light up.

“I think when more people are smoking it becomes more of normal behavior and it’s harder to quit. If you are with a lot of people that smoke it’s harder to avoid it, which keeps our rates high.”

“For one thing, it is a learned behavior, it is something that people do that is associated with other things can be associated when they are driving or always smoke after a meal or when they are visiting certain people and so it is hard to break that.”

Viney believes people need to stop taking failed attempts personally and turn the negatives into a positive.

“For your friends that may have quit Cold Turkey, they may not have been as addicted to it but it’s different for everyone, if you have tried, reflect on what happened when you relapsed and you can learn with every try.”

“The nicotine addiction when you stop using it can cause the discomfort of withdrawal. Using nicotine therapy, which is a cleaner way of getting nicotine can help you quit smoking and you may have to use a higher dose than what’s on the package, you may have to talk to your health care provider about that.”

She adds the best available resources are through Quitnow.ca, Healthlink 8-1-1 or you can phone the number that’s on your cigarette package.